The agreement creates one of the largest mineral claims holdings in the province, covering 420 km² in a region known for promising gold discoveries. Gold Orogen will now hold interests in orogenic gold camps, specifically in Yukon and New Brunswick.
Lode Gold also plans to spin out Gold Orogen, listing its shares on a Canadian exchange, and Lode Gold shareholders will receive shares in the spintout in addition to retaining their shares in Lode Gold.
Fancamp’s C$3.5 million investment will be split, with C$500,000 going to Lode Gold and C$3 million to Gold Orogen. Of this, C$2 million will be used for exploration in Yukon and New Brunswick. Fancamp and Gold Orogen will operate the joint venture, with drilling scheduled for both properties soon.
The Fremont property in California will remain with Lode Gold. It has an indicated resource of 19 million tonnes at 1.9 g/t gold, totaling 1.2 million oz., and an inferred resource of 28.3 million tonnes at 2.22 g/t gold, totaling 2 million oz. The project’s after-tax net present value, using a 5% discount rate and a $2,000/oz. gold price, is C$370 million, with an internal rate of return of 31%. The mine life is projected at 11 years.
“Each of our assets in New Brunswick and Yukon could individually be considered as cornerstone assets in their own standalone companies, importantly with the addition of this joint venture, we are now adding considerable exploration and discovery leverage to our portfolio of assets,” said Lode Gold CEO Wendy Chan.
“This is a synergistic, strength on strength merger. Furthermore, we now have four (instead of three) strong shareholders that are well-funded, engaged and aligned with our vision and plans, and together they own over 60% of our company.”
The company plans further drilling to build on initial exploration results, which included intersections of 20 metres at 1.2 g/t gold and 16 metres at 0.85 g/t gold from the 2019 exploration program.